As a boy, photographer and filmmaker Jürg Hassler every day passed the studio of sculptor Hans Josephsohn on his way to school. Watching the artist working captivated him and once he had finished school in the late 1950s, Hassler began working as Josephsohns assistant and apprentice, eventually becoming a sculptor himself. After studying photography and taking up filmmaking as well, he occupied himself with Josephsohns sculptural work also with the camera, resulting in countless images and the film portrait Josephsohn Stein des Anstosses (JosephsohnBone of Contention), which was released in 1977. This new book features a selection of photographs by Jürg Hassler, who predominantly works in black-and-white. Many of them have single sculptures by Hans Josephsohn as a motif, highlighting the artists strong archaic expressiveness. Nina Keels essay takes a closer look at the context of Hasslers photographic engagement with the art of his teacher.

Nina Keel, geboren 1990, arbeitet seit 2010 u.a. als Kuratorin für das Kesselhaus Josephsohn und studiert an der Universität Zürich Kunst- und Fotografiegeschichte. Daneben setzt sie sich in verschiedenen Projekten mit Stadtentwicklung sowie Kunst im öffentlichen Raum auseinander. Ulrich Meinherz, geboren 1969, ist seit 2005 Leiter des Museums Kesselhaus Josephsohn im Sitterwerk in St. Gallen. Während seines Studiums der Philosophie, Germanistik und Kunstgeschichte an der Universität Zürich war er für die Galerie Bob van Orsouw in Zürich tätig, die zu der Zeit Hans Josephsohn vertrat.